Amidst wedding preparations, an unwelcomed guest unexpectedly arrives at 26-year-old Fatin’s house. It’s her elderly uncle who has taken the festive occasion as an opportunity to visit Lahore and take care of his ailing health. Shaken to the core by his presence, strong-willed and self-assertive Fatin refuses to engage with him and looks to her parents for protection. But when they ask her to tend to him instead, obliging her to shepherd her uncle through his medical visits, Fatin begins to unravel.
Sana Zahra Jafri (co-producer, Joyland) meticulously crafts a restrained and deeply unsettling thriller, expertly keeping the tension taut and allowing no respite. Rasti Farooq (Joyland) delivers a masterful performance, nuanced and fierce in equal measure. Farooq’s embodiment of Fatin’s simmering anger is devastating, and under the veil of silence as familial duty, it becomes deafening.
Sana Zahra Jafri
Sana Zahra Jafri is a Pakistani filmmaker based in Toronto, interested in the exploration of stories through a South Asian female lens. A Film Independent, L’usage du Monde, and Rotterdam Lab fellow, Sana co-produced and cast the award-winning Joyland (Cannes Jury Prize, 2022 Independent Spirit Award) and co-wrote and produced Yasmeen’s Element (SXSW 2024). Her latest short, Permanent Guest, premiered at TIFF in 2025. She is currently developing her debut feature as a writer-director.
